1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of vises and more particularly to the field of machining vises.
2. Description of Background Art
Conventional vises are designed to hold a target part securely by having its jaws hold the target part in a work holding area. FIG. 8 is an illustration of a conventional single vise. A first jaw 802A of the two jaws of a conventional single vise is fixed while the other jaw (movable jaw 802B) is attached to a movable body 806 that moves along the vise frame 808 by using a handle 810. The movable jaw 802B is positioned and applies pressure on a target part in the work holding area 804 of the vise. The main work holding area 804 of conventional vises are small when compared to the total length of the vise. There are conventional vises that incorporate two main work holding areas (double vises). When a handle on these double vises is turned, two movable jaws can secure two target parts.
FIG. 9a illustrates an example of a target part 902 being secured by a conventional single vise. The long axis of the target part 902 is gripped by the jaws 802 in order to ensure that the target part is secure. The gripping force is parallel to the long axis of the vise. In contrast, if the target part 902 is aligned in parallel with the long axis of the vise the target part is not securely clamped as illustrated in FIG. 9b.
When machining target parts it is imperative that the target part be secure in order to precisely machine the target part, e.g., in order to cut, bore, mill, drill, tapping the target part. In addition, a non-secure target part can become loose and cause injury to nearby workers and/or damage the cutting tools and machine. The main working area of conventional vises is not large enough to accommodate large target parts securely and safely, e.g., target part 902. In addition, when doing multiple side work, conventional vises do not provide adequate space for machine tools to reach a target part whose width is significantly less that the width of the vise, see FIG. 9C for example. In addition, conventional vises are limited to securing at most two individual target parts in a vise.
What is needed is an apparatus that (1) permits target parts to be securely gripped along the full length of its longitudinal axis;(2) provides adequate clearance to machine tools to eliminate many interferences between the vise and the machining tool; (3) enables multiple target parts to be secured independently; (4) is adaptable to conventional machine tools; and (5) increases the number of target parts that can be machined in a given space.